Love's Theme
| length = | label = 20th Century/Pye International | writer = Barry White | producer = Barry White | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Rhapsody in White | next_year = 1974 | misc = }} "Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece written by Barry White and recorded by White's The Love Unlimited Orchestra and released in 1973 as a single. It is one of the few instrumental and purely orchestral singles to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, which it did in early 1974. Billboard ranked it as the #3 song for 1974.Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1974 The piece was included on two albums: 1973's Under the Influence of... Love Unlimited (by the vocal group Love Unlimited) and 1974's Rhapsody in White by the Love Unlimited Orchestra. The recording, with a large string orchestra, wah-wah guitar, and big rhythm, is considered to be an influence on the disco sound, which would explode in popularity the following year. The song was also popular on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S., where it spent two weeks at #1. It was also used by ABC Sports for many years as the opening theme music for its golf coverage. New York television station WPIX used it as the closing music for its then-Action News franchise during the mid-1970s. In Canada, the single saw similar success, reaching #1 on the RPM 100 National Singles Chart on March 2, 1974. In addition, "Love's Theme" was also recorded in a vocal version by Love Unlimited (on their 1974 album In Heat). Andy Williams released a vocal version in May of 1974 that reached #16 on the adult contemporary chart in the United States. Enoch Light recorded an electro-disco instrumental version on his 1977 album, Disco Disque. The song is also part of Meco's instrumental medley "Hooked On Instrumentals Part I" (from the 1985 album Hooked On Instrumentals). In May 1993, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released the single "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)" (from their album Liberator, released the same year) which used a sample of this Barry White composition. This single reached #24 on the UK Singles Chart, and Barry White was given a writing credit. This song was covered by American smooth jazz trumpeter Rick Braun and contemporary jazz artist Paul Hardcastle on his album, The Collection from 2009. The Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways used the music for their TV advertisements. It was also featured briefly in Mean Girls, Despicable Me 2, El Cantante, Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. The morning music video show Sounds Unlimited used the song as its opening and closing theme. Charts and certifications Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications !scope="col" colspan="3"| Physical |- See also *List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1974 (U.S.) *List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1974 (U.S.) *List of RPM number-one singles of 1974 (Canada) References *''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 6th Edition, 1996 External links * * Category:1973 singles Category:1973 songs Category:Songs written by Barry White Category:Songs written by Aaron Schroeder Category:Barry White songs Category:Barry Manilow songs Category:Andy Williams songs Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one singles Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in South Africa Category:Debut singles Category:Theme music Category:Pop instrumentals Category:ABC Sports Category:20th Century Fox Records singles Category:Pye Records singles